Teater on the brink in Reno

This is not a new concept as The International under various sponsorship banners was played at Castle Pines in Colorado up until 2006 on a similar layout also designed by Jack Nicklaus and played at altitude.

The theory is that an aggressive approach will be rewarded as eagles and birdies are worth five and two points (a rare double eagle or albatross is worth eight) but cock-ups can be costly with a bogey knocking one point from your total and a double bogey or worse a penalising minus three.

The course at Montreux Country Club is no pushover with a testing final four holes - particularly when the breeze starts to swirl through the trees - so avoiding the disasters is as much a key to victory as shooting the lights out.

Padraig Harrington has clear daylight between himself and the rest of the field at the head of the betting and his participation is down to needing a blowout ahead of next week's USPGA at Kiawah Island.

Not qualified for the WGC event at Akron, Harrington is an advocate of using competition ahead of a major and it also gives him the chance to bag a few more Ryder Cup points with that event now just two months down the line.

He is a best price of 11/1 at Sky Bet currently and although he has shown some nice touches lately - at the US Open for example - he continues to tinker with his game as he "tries to get his shoulders square at impact with his wedges".

That is a very dull line to throw into a betting preview but it highlights the detail the Irishman is going into to get his game back to its best and suggests the bigger picture of winning events is still a little way off the radar.

So it is the local contingent we look to and first out of the stalls is former winner Chris Riley, who remains one of my favourite players.

His only victory on the PGA Tour came here back in 2002 and though his career never went stratospheric, he is still capable of making an impact on a course where conditions suit.

The rarified air certainly helps with his lack of distance from the tee and the Las Vegas resident admitted at this tournament 12 months ago that he loves playing golf in Nevada.

He boasts some other solid results here and also of interest is his second place at The International back in 2001 as he said: "It was similar to this where you have really elevated tees and you're hitting down and I played well there too."

Throw in the return to the stableford system and it might just rekindle a few positive memories for Riley.

He has made his last four cuts on the PGA Tour and also had a couple of top-four finishes on the Web.com Tour this season so this laid-back and likeable guy may just have a reasonable shot at getting his career heading back in the right direction.

Another journeyman who could rise to the occasion is JJ Henry, who has also managed just one success on Tour in a consistent career that has spanned more than 12 years during which time he has never lost his Tour card.

Henry spoke recently of how much experience he has built up over the years as a touring pro and still believes he has more to offer.

"I think my best golf is still ahead of me as I am just 37. I just kind of feel like my game has been close for a long time."

He currently sits 97th on the FedEx Cup points list so another good performance would ensure he gets to play in a couple of those events at the very least as he arrives here on the back of three very solid efforts at the John Deere, True South and in Canada.

Three top 20s at Montreux bode well (two of them top 10s) and the new format this week should reward the way he tackles the task.

John Merrick is another fan of this course and I can see him going well also.

The Californian has posted a host of good results around here and spoke last year about how sweet he was on the test it provided: "I am just comfortable on this golf course. I wish every course was like it and I can just see the shots out here," he said although the vision must have been a bit blurred in the final round as he closed with a 76.

Never mind though, he gets another chance and I was quite impressed with the way he handled himself at the recent FedEx St Jude Classic on the way to a second place as he did not let a double bogey at the 12th in the final round where he hit two in the drink derail him to any great extent.

He showed a cool head to post two more birdies on the way to the clubhouse and that sort of fortitude should come in handy for this unique scoring system.

A final selection goes to in-form Josh Teater, who is on a real roll after his two best displays of the season at the True South and in Canada yielded a T9 and a T4.

His cause was not helped at the latter where he found water from the tee on the closing hole but that should not detract from an excellent overall week and one which should provide some vital momentum.

He has some valuable experience of the course too having finished T10 here in 2011 while his lone pro victory to date came by four shots back in 2009 in neighbouring Utah.

Teater seems to have a good feeling for this part of the United States and has the profile of a player starting to find his feet on Tour.

I have avoided playing the stats card so far but the fact that Teater ranks 12th this season in Total Birdies should also be a boost to his chance.